Tuesday, 25 April 2017

If you have a Roku 2 media streamer and use a wireless network scanning tool such as Acrylic Wi-Fi Home, you might see a hidden wi-fi network on exactly the same wireless channel as your router. Depending on the location of your PC, the signal for this hidden network might be stronger than your wireless router. Changing the channel on your router doesn't help, as the hidden network "follows" and switches to the same channel again.

This is due to a feature in the Roku called "Wi-Fi" direct. This allows for wireless devices (such as phones and other wi-fi remote controls) to connect to the Roku. As the Roku 2 comes with an infra-red remote control, this additional Wi-Fi network isn't really needed (as long as you're not planning to control it via wi-fi).

Connecting the Roku 2 to the internet via a wired connection means that the hidden Roku wireless network can be on a different channel, but to reduce interference I've disabled Wi-Fi Direct on my Roku 2 by following these steps: -

Home

Settings

System

Advanced system settings

Device connect

Disable Device connect

Once you've done this, you should see the additional wireless network disappear.